First Look: Travel organizer Tripit.com offers iPhone app

Filed under: Software, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, First Look

Do you travel a lot for business or pleasure? If you do, then you'll find the new free iPhone app (click opens iTunes) from Tripit.com to be a great way to organize your trip plans.

Tripit.com imports and interprets your itineraries from airlines, hotel chains, ticket outlets, and other travel companies. When you receive an itinerary from one of these providers, you forward it to a special Tripit email address to have it translated into a trip plan automatically (the site supports hundreds of travel providers, and the translation from email into structured itinerary is really quite amazing). You can share your travel plans with friends or colleagues via LinkedIn, and see when your fellow travelers are heading to a city near you or when their plans align with yours.

That collection of trip plans is what you view with the Tripit.com app. The app is linked to your Tripit.com account, and displays a day by day list of flights, car rentals, and other events that make up your trips. Each event can be opened in further detail to show information such as arrival and departure times, confirmation numbers, and more. Links for airport codes bring up Google Maps of the airport vicinity, and other links can check your flight status with a touch.

Since you can always access the mobile version of the Tripit site from a connected iPhone or iPod touch, the big advantage of the native application is that the travel data is cached locally on the phone for offline review (mid-flight, for example). More full-featured apps like the $9.99US TravelTracker or FlightTrack Pro can also store and display your Tripit itineraries via the service's API, and Tripit's developers tell us that they intend to continue supporting third-party application access.

To use the app on your iPhone or iPod touch, all you need to do is sign up for a free Tripit.com account or forward your first itinerary to plans@tripit.com. Take a look at the gallery below for details of the Tripit app at work.

First Look: Travel organizer Tripit.com offers iPhone app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 12 Apr 2009 00:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

First Look: Travel organizer Tripit.com offers iPhone app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 12 Apr 2009 00:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Steve Jobs Also Overseeing Apple Tablet or Netbook Device?

One aspect of the Wall Street Journal article published today that we failed to mention in our previous coverage was that Apple is indeed working on a new type of device.

According to The Wall Street Journal's sources, Apple is workin...

iPhone used as a Virtual Joystick to Play Wolfenstein 3D; Also Paired with External PS2 Keyboard

MLB At Bat 2009 struck out, but now back in the game with bug fixes

Filed under: iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

Baseball fans were quite excited to learn that this years MLB.com At Bat 2009 iPhone app [App Store link], selling for $9.99US, would include game day audio. We reviewed the app in March and it received good notices but there was no audio to test at that time. Since baseball season began, the App Store reviews have been filled with comments from angry users saying there are frequent crashes and the audio keeps dropping out. Many wanted their money back.

The good news is that yesterday the app was updated to version 1.01 and most reviews are now positive. The crashes have been pretty much fixed, and the audio streaming is working very well. There are some scattered complaints about the game day pages being a bit behind, but generally people are now very pleased.

In my tests of the first version, I had lots of crashes, and indeed, the audio streaming was spotty. The new version has been crash-less so far, and the audio has been smooth and starts up quickly. I've listened via WiFi and 3G with no issues -- although if you are trying to use the app from your local ballpark, as Steve points out, you'll be competing with thousands of other fans for scarce 3G bandwidth and you may not be able to use the audio features (or do other things involving the cell connection, like making and receiving calls).

The app itself is a bargain, since getting audio from any game all season long costs $14.99 via MLB on the web. For 5 bucks less you get it on your phone. If you can live without streaming audio you can get MLB.com At Bat 2009 Lite for free. Now, if my hometown team just wouldn't come in last again this year all would be well. I guess the iPhone can't fix that.

MLB At Bat 2009 struck out, but now back in the game with bug fixes originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 11 Apr 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MLB At Bat 2009 struck out, but now back in the game with bug fixes originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 11 Apr 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Concept of Apple’s New iPhone: The Most Probable Evolution?

Steve Jobs was “Particularly Involved” in iPhone 3.0 Interface Design

The Wall Street Journal reports that while Steve Jobs remains home on leave of absence, with chief operating officer Tim Cook managing the day to day business, Jobs is still keeping active tabs on the greater strategic vision, including iPhone 3.0:

He regularly reviews products and product plans, and was particularly involved in the user interface of the new iPhone operating system that Apple unveiled last month, these people say.

While Jobs is expected back at Apple in June, it’s unknown if it will be in time for the big next generation keynote, and whether or not he and Apple will decide it’s in either of their best interests to put him on up stage and under the spotlight so soon upon his return (especially considering how stock manipulators and blogeratti both have reacted to his health and appearance in the past.)

Of course, that won’t stop many of us, myself included, from creating elaborate, heroic return fantasies for Jobs, live on the WWDC stage, iPhone HD pulled casually from his jean pocket and held up with a trademark “boom!”

[via MacRumors]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Steve Jobs was “Particularly Involved” in iPhone 3.0 Interface Design

App Review: Flight Control for iPhone

Flight Control Forum Review by cjvitek For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!

Ever want to be a flight controller? The most stressful job (so I hear) ever? Well, if you want the fun, but don’t want the stress, Flight Control is the game for you.

With Flight Control, you play a flight controller who needs to guide planes in for a safe landing. You have two runways (red and yellow) and one helicopter pad (blue). As planes fly in, they are either red or yellow, indicating which runway they need to land on (helicopters can only land on the pad). Your job is to guide the planes to the appropriate runway while avoiding in-air collisions.

Sounds easy, right? Sure it is…when there are only one or two planes coming in at a time. But as time progresses, more and more planes enter the playing field, increasing the risk of close calls and collisions.

The process of guiding a plane is very simple. Simply tap the plane, and slide you finger along the path you want the plane to take. As you are creating the path, it appears as a dotted line. When you lift you finger, the planes path is “set”, and it starts to follow it. Need to adjust a path? Just tap the plane and slide your finger to create a new path. Not sure you know where you want the plane to go? Draw it flying in circles or a big loop, and then come back to it later. Don’t forget about a plane though! If a plane finished it’s path and hasn’t landed, it just keeps flying straight (pilots are sort of dumb like that).

This game is really sort of cool, and there aren’t any other games out there like it. The controls are very easy, making good use of the touch screen. The game warns your of potential collisions and incoming aircraft (which are offscreen so you can’t see them). As with most games, I wish there were some sort of multiplayer or competitive option, but the game can get pretty hectic on it’s own. The game’s difficulty increases quickly - one or two planes on the screen is fine, but with 5 or 6 planes it can be very difficult to keep track of them all.

I would love to see some different “airport” options - different layouts of runways and helicopter pads, so you could choose which airport you wanted. This would also be a good way to allow different difficulty levels. But the included airport is fun. The stats page gives you a nice rundown of your performance, including your average score, the most planes on the screen at one time, you highest score, etc.

Pros:

• New game concept,
• easy game play

Cons:

• No multiple airports

Conclusion

All in all, this is a fun little game. It takes the iPhone and brings a new game concept to it (at least a concept I haven’t seen before). The game design is perfect for the iPhone. At $.99 (current grand opening sale) the game is a must try. The normal price is probably going to be $2.99, and even at that price it is worth it.

TiPb Forum Review Rating

[Flight Control is available via the iTunes App Store]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

App Review: Flight Control for iPhone

Golf Fans: Keep track of the Masters on your iPhone

This is a great time of the year if you’re a sports fan in the US. Baseball season starting up, NBA playoff races getting settled, March Madness’ recent climax, and this week one of sports’ grandest and greatest occasions – The Masters. The Masters is very special if you’re a golf fan. They tend to [...]

App Store close to 1 billion downloads; prizes being given away

Can you believe it? The App Store hit 500 million downloads just three months ago, and Apple’s already counting down to 1 billion. Crazier still, they’re giving away free stuff to celebrate. It’s pretty easy—download any app from your computer, iPhone or iPod touch and you’re automatically entered to win. Every app download counts as an [...]